Recipe for a Villain
by BigJelly
Summary: Skeletor is the villain and He-Man is the hero, right?


There was one thing Skeletor knows, how to survive.

Skeletor was pacing back and forth in front of a series of cells, a habit he couldn't break while contemplating his next move. The cells were dingy, covered in dried blood, wet blood, and piles of goo that could only be described as fleshy remains. He grabbed an imaginary handful of hair, another habit from a previous life, and shrugged in indecision.

"What to do with you now?" he hissed at the occupied cell in front of him.

"I-I don't know?" replied Stratos, fear laced his voice with its icy tendrils.

"What… ahh, I was more talking to myself."

"Oh, are you going to kill me?"

Skeletor chuckled softly, the kind that you expect from denizens of the abyss "perhaps," and paused just slightly and uncomfortable too long "perhaps."

Just then a guard barged in the obvious dungeon, a disfigured half man half beast of some sort, and ran to kneel in front of Skeletor, panting and shaking.

"What!" Skeletor screamed.

The disfigured guard stood and whimpered "He-He-He-Man is at the gates."

"Of course he is" Skeletor replied to no one in general "Evilynn!"

A mist formed next to the guard, and began to take shape. The evil sorceress stepped from the ether and bowed "my lord?"

"Send our visitor to the pits that should buy you plenty of time to prepare the ritual."

"As you command," she said as her body dematerialized back through the ether.

"Man the turrets, place the mountain on alert," Skeletor snapped.

The guard retreated as quickly as he had entered. Skeletor returned his posture to that of deep concentration and contemplation. His pacing resumed. A rams head staff appeared in his hand, and he clutched it as if it were trying to escape. He paused mid-stride, cocked his head toward Stratos cell, and stared with his empty sockets beyond the prisoner, through the wall, and down into the pits.

He-Man battered at the gates of Snake Mountain, Skeletors stronghold for more than a decade now, and felt the defenses begin to buckle under his devastating might. Each blow with his bare fists brought dust and debris from the wooden gate as it gave in to this demigod of a man. The gate eventually gave up its fight and was sundered into two equally broken halves. He-Man stepped through the arched entryway, and surveyed the situation: he was alone, and knew that was a bad sign.

"Intruder," Evelynn whispered from the shadow of the archway.

"Surrender sorceress, there is no need to prolong the inevitable," He-Man confidently proclaimed.

"Predictable," she hissed "and foolish."

Evilynn slammed her staff into the dirt and recited Millennia old incantations of an indecipherable tongue. The ground at He-Man's feet melted away into nothingness to reveal a gaping hole that fell a hundred feet straight down, into the pits beneath Snake Mountain. He-Man succumbed to the laws of gravity and fell helplessly into the pit. The fall alone would have killed a normal man, He-Man wasn't even bruised. Evilynn lifted her staff of the ground and fell silent, and the ground was solid once more. She chuckled and walked away.

The air above Snake Mountain swirled with half man half bird creatures beginning their aerial assault. Skeletor was fully aware of this impending attack, the brethren of Stratos would obviously mount a rescue with the help of He-Man. Skeletor was curious when the rest of his sidekicks would show up, another inevitable event.

The magical ballista and catapults fired upon the attackers, illuminating the dawn with violent hues of red and green. The stunned birdmen kept a safe distance, knowing their attack only served as a distraction for He-Man's frontal assault.

Skeletor and Evilynn stood in front of an elaborate and ornate mirror the size of a full grown man. The smoke of recently burned sulfur and copper hung heavy in the air. The two exchanged a long glance, and then redirected their gaze upon the centerpiece of the room, the mirror began to glow and hum.

"If this doesn't work, it will be the…" she trailed off, her voice heavy with doubt and concern.

"I know, but we must try," Skeletor said in a voice for too human for his skeletal visage.

Just then the door burst off its hinges, and He-Man emerged, smug in his righteousness.

"You really didn't think the pits would stop me did you?"

"No, just delay you," Skeletor said as he turned from He-Man and peered deep into the mirror.

"This ends kn…" but he was unable to finish his thought.

Skeletor caught He-Man's gaze in the reflection of the mirror and both were stopped. The ritual had taken hold of both of them and neither one could move, they were at the mercy of the magic's at hand, and they were ancient and powerful.

He-Man felt his alter ego fall away in his mind's eye, he was Prince Adam, and all his secrets were unfolding before him, and his nefarious enemy, for he could feel Skeletor with him here, and Adam was scared for the first time since he assumed the He-Man persona.

Then the landscape shifted, and he found himself back in Eternia, not quite present day, but not that long ago either. A wizard, or a sorcerer stands atop the stairs to the palace, he is speaking to an audience, and holds great sway over them. He talks of the rapid expansion of the city, and the technological terror that has been created in the name of science. The chemicals are destroying the ecosystems for hundreds of miles surrounding the city. Forests and withering, the waterways are poisoned and polluted, and the wildlife is mutating, violently. He demands action from the citizenry and from the ruling elite. This is met with thunderous applause.

The landscape shifts again and Adam's mind reels, he is ill equipped to handle this mind and soul wrenching magic. Eventually his mind settles on the same man, sitting at a table with his family having dinner. The man is laughing and talking with them, asking the children what they wanted for their upcoming birthdays, telling his wife he has never been happier. Then suddenly he accosted from the shadows by cloaked figures, and drug from his home.

The world goes dark, and Adam fears he has died. Moments later the light comes searing in and blinds him. Slowly his eyes adjust and the man is tied lying next to a drainage ditch, a foul yellow watery like substance rushing by and off into some unforeseen body of water. A cloaked figure grabs the man by his shirt and pours an acidic substance on his face. The man howls in pain, and writhes on the floor, convulsing violently. His assailant stands over him and says "you'll make a fine example," and kicks him into the rushing waters.

Moments later Adam finds himself being hurled downstream as well, now fearing he will drown, but just as the last breath is escaping his lungs he is lifted out of the muck by a clawed hand. Adam's perspective has changed, he is now the man, laboring for breath and staring at Beastman!

His vision blurs, his head is throbbing, and he feels like he is about to evacuate the contents of his stomach. As he is about to vomit he hears himself yell charge, and he sees Merman and the minions of Skeletor charge from the underbrush of the swamp as his vision clears. They are attacking the palace guard. The battle is short lived and the retreat as quickly as they came.

The last shift is calm, and subtle, by far the smoothest yet. He is looking at Evilynn, barely a hand span between them. "I know, but we must try," he hears himself say and slowly looks into the mirror to see the face of Skeletor staring back at him.

With that there is a crack of thunder and Adam finds himself back in his own body, as He-Man, staring through a cracked mirror at Skeletor.

"The prince, the irony," Skeletor sighs slowly "I couldn't have worse luck."

He-Man unsheathes his power sword and starts toward the beaten villain "truly, you couldn't."


End file.
